1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of ball or tube mills and is directed specifically to supporting the mill for controlled oscillation during rotation of the contents of the mill to thereby improve the grinding efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
From the technical literature for the mechanics of the ball mill, for example, the publication "Chemie-Ingenieur-Technik" 1964, pages 125 to 130, it is stated that the grinding output of a ball mill increases in a continuously operating ball mill, the output yield being proportional to the second power of the oscillation amplitude and to the third power of the oscillatory frequency according to the equation: EQU D=K.sub.1 .multidot..alpha..sup.2 .multidot.n.sup.3
where
D is the grinding output, or yield, for example in metric tons per hour,
.alpha. IS THE OSCILLATION AMPLITUDE,
N IS THE RATE OF ROTATION OF THE UNBALANCED DRIVE, AND
K.sub.1 is a proportionality constant.
Previously, an increase in the output of the ball mill was accomplished by increasing the rate of rotation of the unbalanced drive on the assumption that the grinding yield or output increases more rapidly with increasing rate of rotation than with increasing amplitude. The oscillatory amplitude of the ball mill was therefore held relatively small.